Golfers Speak Out Against Raising Course Fees

BERLIN — Golfers teed off over a proposal to raise $50,000 more in revenues from the town-owned golf course took a swing Tuesday night at getting the town council to change its mind.

The council did not act on the matter, but has scheduled a meeting for Thursday at 8 p.m. with parks and recreation officials and the budget director to discuss the increase.

In a presentation to council members, parks and recreation Chairman William Baccaro urged them not to view Timberlin Golf Course as a ``cash cow that can be milked whenever revenue is needed in town.''

Close to a dozen golfers who attended the meeting applauded Baccaro's comments.

The town council earlier this month adopted the 1996-97 budget, which includes $50,000 more in revenue from the golf course. The council is scheduled to send the budget to voters for final approval April 9.

Last week, the parks and recreation commission, which oversees the golf course, recommended no increases in golf fees for next year, a stance that conflicts with the council's.

Baccaro argued Tuesday that golf fees were raised last year and the facility's rates are competitive. He also said the commission has projected $800,000 in revenues next year, an increase of 12.25 percent over last year. In 1995, he said, the golf course brought in $160,000 in profit.

``We on the commission are asking that the town council resist the temptation to count on golf course profits to finance other town projects,'' he said.

Mayor Ida Ragazzi asked Baccaro why he did not object to the increase when it was first included in the budget and before the budget was adopted by the town council.

Baccaro said he had made his objections known to budget Director Gary Clinton, who had originally asked for $100,000 more in revenues from the golf course operation. Clinton was not at the meeting during Baccaro's presentation.

Baccaro also said he did not get a copy of the budget until the night of the budget hearing, which gave him little time to review it.

Ragazzi told Baccaro and the other golfers that the increase would result in only a 50-cent increase for some players. That, she said, was not a lot.

But golfers told the council that an increase would end up angering those who use the golf course.

Art Kevorkian said senior citizens who use the course are on fixed incomes and can't afford an increase. Raising golf fees does not guarantee the money will come in, he said, becaue the weather plays a major role in profit and loss at the golf course. An increase would antagonize golfers, he said.

In other business, Ragazzi read a letter that Police Chief Gerald Charamut sent to Peter Ledger, director of parks and recreation in New Britain. In the letter, Charamut said he was concerned that New Britain's plan to charge for parking during baseball games at Willow Brook Park may create traffic jams in Berlin. Charamut has asked Ledger what steps the city plans to take to ensure that traffic does not back up on Berlin's highways.

``I do not want be put in a position to find it necessary to reroute traffic to provide for safety on public streets in Berlin,'' Charamut said.